By Chance

Altair usually thought she had a chance. In fact, she always thought she had a chance. She had been relying on chance for almost her entire life, just riding the highs of pure luck. Wether it was surviving a float down the river as a pup, surviving a fox attack at five moons of age, or falling out of a tree onto the only patch of moss in a seven mile radius, cushioning her fall, Altair was lucky, in a non-scientific way. Though she was incredibly lucky, she had one moment that she always saw as her luckiest. After falling out of a tree and blacking out, she awoke to see another wolf. Polaris, to be exact. Polaris, her one make-or-break, her sole hit-or-miss.

"Who are you...?" She asked groggily, her voice slurred. "Polaris, pleased to meet you," He responded, "Might I ask how you fell out of a tree and survived?" "Dumb luck," She said with a grin while rising to her paws. "Nice to meet you as well," She added, still smiling. "Haven't seen another wolf 'round these parts in ages, you aren't from around here, are you?" Altair asked. Polaris awkwardly looked to the side. "Well, my father killed my mother and left my younger sister to die a while back, and he just killed my sister. It was the last straw," He said with a more solemn tone. Altair's grin disappeared almost immediately. "I'm so sorry, that must be awful," She responded softly while looking into his tortured, hollowed, bright blue eyes. Like an ocean that's surrounded by debris and darkness, but there's still a silver of bright blue hope in the center. Hope.

"Why don't you stay with me? My den's surely got enough room for two," Altair said comfortingly. Polaris nodded softly, and she led him through a path in the forest, composed of mud packed into the ground due to it being stupid on constantly. Brambles aimlessly scraped at their pelts as they walked, but they paid no mind to the thorns. Finally, they reached their destination. A fairly large cave covered in ivy, with a curtain of plants dangling at the cave's mouth. They padded inside without a word.

Polaris immediately flopped over into a bed of moss, resting his tired paws. Almost instantly, he was asleep, out like a light. Seeing his rest as an opportunity, Altair quietly left the den to hunt something, anything. She sat in the bushes near her den without making a sound, until she spotted a lone buck. She crept towards it, then pounced, having one chance and one chance only to strike. She managed to bring it down by herself, a near impossible feat. As she thanked her lucky stars, she padded back to her den while dragging the deer behind her. She caught smiling softly as she laid her eyes on Polaris' peaceful state of rest, and quickly snapped herself back into reality. She dropped the buck by Polaris, watching him awake to the thud that the deer had made as it dropped. As his eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the light, Polaris rose to his feet, stumbling slightly. Altair noticed that his eyes seemed slightly less pained, and smiled softly.